472
'tAU
rebuIld) proceeded to JerusaJ elll , antI deuHthded by what right they were rebuilding the teulple; and when the J e\vs inf'lnued them that they were working under the authority of a forillcr deCl'(',; of Cyrus, the Persian governors wrote to Darius, giving an account of these cirCUlllstances, and inquiring if such a tlecree ,vas in exi~tence, and if it was the king's pleasure that it should still be O'\~eyed. Darius, influenced by his friendship for Zerullbahel, who visited hiln on the occasion of this interference, gave orden· not only that the .J ews should not be nlolested, but that the J sbould receive every assistance from the Persian officers in their pious undertaking of rebuilding the house of the Lord.
TAU CROSS. The Tau Cross or Cross of St. Antony,* is a cross in the form of a Greek T. It was among tIle ancient,s a hieroglyphic of eternal li'fe. It was the form of the Nilometer,. or measure of the Nile, used to ascertain the height of the inun·· . dation, upon· which the prosperity of the country and the life of the inhabitants depended, and Wtts, in consequence, used among the E~'yptinns as an amulet, capable of averting eviL fIence it ,,~as a favourite SYlllbol of the l~gyptians, and under the fbrm of the "Crux ansata" was to' be seen in all their tenlples, very often held in the bands of their deities or suspended fronl their necks. •Jablonskit says it is the Egyptian representation (If the Phallus~ eonsidered by SOlne as the symbol of the deity, and by others as that of eternal life. I{ircher thinks t.hat the Crux ans3Ja wa~ a monogram denoting Mercury or Phtha, who was the conduetor I)f'the souls of the dead; and Dr. Clarke! says that the tau 01'088 was a monogram of Thoth, "the symbolical or mystical name of bidden wisdom among the ancient Egyptians; the BEDS of t.he Greeks." In the initiation in HindoRtun the tau cross, under the name of "tiluk," was marked upon the body of tb e -candidate, as a sign that he was set apart for the sacred mysteries. Tht.;
"* So called because it is said to have been the cross on which that saint itlff~red
t
martyrdom. Panth. 2Egypt. i. 282.
t I'ravels, voL v. p. 3lL